


The Sacrificial Bride

by HeartlessMemo



Category: Dracula & Related Fandoms, Dracula (TV 2020)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Lords and vassels, Sacrifice, Slow Burn, enemies to lovers to playful adversaries?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartlessMemo/pseuds/HeartlessMemo
Summary: Every year the residents of Brasov present their marriage age daughters to Count Dracula who chooses one of them to be his bride. Count Dracula wishes to find his perfect match but he's been so far unsuccessful.Agatha is due to leave for the convent and finally start her life of devotion and study. She just has to get through this one last harvest night...one final selection and she'll be free. As long as the Count passes her over as he's done every other year...This is loosely inspired by Naomi Novik's Uprooted as well as a Tumblr prompt I received for a Dracula x Agatha arranged marriage situation.
Relationships: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing
Comments: 50
Kudos: 176





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick little starter chapter that I wrote as a response to a request on [Tumblr](https://chelsfic.tumblr.com/post/190973763398/any-chance-for-a-sweet-and-spicy-arranged). I'm planning to expand more as the plot goes forward. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy!

“But I’m leaving for the convent next week! I’ve as good as taken my vows already. I shouldn’t have to participate in this barbaric…this–this absurd–”

“Agatha, please,” her mother sighed with the frustration of a woman who had spent the last twenty years losing arguments to her brilliant daughter. “You know as well as I do that the Count demands this sacrifice of the village in exchange for our protection. He’s passed you over every other year. You will be fine. And in one week you’ll leave your old mother behind you and start a new life of devotion. But now you must do your duty for the community.”

Agatha shook her head in disgust but offered no further argument. In calling upon Agatha’s sense of duty her mother had hit a vulnerable spot and she knew it. Agatha was a good girl even if she was too smart for her own good.

***

Agatha stood with the other young women lined up on the village green awaiting the arrival of their lord, Count Dracula. It was night, of course, for the Count was never seen outside of his castle except after dark. Everyone in the village knew what he was even if they feared to speak the word out loud. Well, Agatha was not afraid. _Vampire_. That’s what he was: a foul beast of hell and nothing more. Something to cause disgust not fear and reverence. But the elders of the village did not see it this way. Dracula had brought peace, prosperity and protection into their little corner of the world. For that they gave him their fealty…and his choice of their daughters at each year’s harvest day.

Every year Count Dracula took a bride. It was speculated that the Count wished to find a woman who could become like him. _An immortal fiend_ , Agatha thought sneeringly. But every bride he’d chosen so far had failed in some mysterious way. The girls were never heard from again. Yet the village elders continued to offer them up. In exchange, the Count did not include the village as part of his hunting grounds. What was the life of one lowly female compared to the well-being of the whole village?

Agatha shifted her weight from foot to foot and tossed her long wavy hair over her shoulder in annoyance. She’d stood in line every year since she was fifteen and every year the Count had stalked up and down the row of eligible women and girls eyeing each one from head to toe and always selecting someone else. She knew her mother was right. The Count had never looked twice at her before. She would be safe…and then she’d be free. Some might not consider the life of a nun to be one of freedom…but for Agatha it was everything. She longed to pursue her studies of divinity and lore beyond the boundaries of this tiny village. She just had to make it through tonight first.

The Count entered the village green with his usual flare for drama. He melted out of the shadows and into the ring of torches, appearing as a column of shadow in his long black cape. He stalked through the crowd of villagers who parted around him with fearful cringes and obsequious bows. 

When he finally reached the edge of the crowd and stood before the line of trembling women he spoke in a saccharine, affected tone, “Hello, ladies! And thank you for coming! Your village…your families thank you as well, I think.”

There was a halfhearted round of applause from the crowd. Everyone was on edge waiting for the Count to make his selection. Everyone prayed that he’d choose someone else’s daughter. 

“Well, now, let’s see…” the Count began walking slowly down the line, pausing to inspect each girl individually. With some he would exchange murmured words but for the most part he took in their forms, leaning in to inhale their scents, reaching out to feel the meat on their bones. Agatha vibrated with repressed fury at the indignity as she waited her turn.

When he finally paused in front of her she forced herself to remain still, willing her body not to shiver under his penetrating gaze. She forced her eyes upward to meet the dark depths of his and greeted him with cool politeness, “Hello again, Count Dracula.”

Dracula smirked, clearly impressed by her bravery. The other girls could barely meet his gaze. 

“Hello, Agatha. Still unmarried, I see. Waiting for me, are you?” Dracula teased with that insufferable smug expression. 

“Someone a little higher up, as a matter of fact. I leave for the Convent of St. Mary’s next week.”

The Count arched a brow and his lips curled in amusement, as if her life’s dream and vocation were a funny joke to him.

“We will see, won’t we?” he replied mildly. He stepped forward, invading her personal space and dipping his face down to her throat, inhaling her scent. “Oh, Agatha your bouquet improves every year. I can almost taste that passion, that desperation for learning and advancement…”

Agatha stayed silent, fearing she’d already given him too much to possibly entice him. _Please, God, let him pass over me so that I might devote my life to you._

When he finally moved on to the next girl Agatha could breathe easy again. She kept her eyes focused on the ground in front of her and tried to center her thoughts. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. This was it, her final trial before freedom. 

Dracula reached the last girl and then stood back, assessing the entire batch of females and shaking his head from side to side with a thoughtful frown on his face. Agatha watched him like a hawk. He towered over most of the figures in the crowd, his body was lean and his movements belied an inhuman physical power constantly beneath the surface. He was classically handsome, she could admit. But she felt nothing but burning anger and sinking fear when she looked upon him–this creature who murdered without consequence and who held her fate in his hands like a fragile bird.

_Please, God…_

Dracula clapped his hands together merrily and grinned in anticipation as his voice rang out, “I’ve made my decision and I thank you, citizens of Brasov, for your tribute. You will enjoy another year of prosperity and peace; another year of safety thanks to your sacrifice. I have chosen…Agatha Van Helsing for my new bride!”

Agatha collapsed to the ground as her knees gave out and her head spun. She could hear the relieved sighs from the girls around her and the scattered applause from the villagers–but it sounded miles away. She was in shock. Her vision swam and her stomach plummeted. This could not be. She was so close. So very close…

She looked up, pleadingly, seeking a friendly face, a savior…but instead she was met by the hungry, predatory gaze of the Count. He held her, captured, in the bottomless dark of his eyes as a wolf’s smile slowly spread over his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The long-awaited follow up to my "arranged marriage" request response. Hope you guys like this. Comments and kudos are always appreciated!

**One Month Later**

“Oh, Agatha, not this again, surely?” Dracula whined as he descended the grand staircase, his brilliant black cape sweeping behind him.

Agatha was sitting in the window seat staring out at the front courtyard. Her posture curled in on itself, her face was slack and despondent. She was in one of her despairing moods. Dracula rolled his eyes as he entered the room.

He’d made this little parlor quite cheery for her, importing luxurious furs and plush cushioned furniture for her comfort. It was as if he was trying to win her over–which was utter nonsense. _What was there to win?_ Dracula owned her as surely as he owned the furs and couches in this room. But what Agatha had discovered in a month of living with this creature is that he desired more than just her body. He wanted her soul as well.

_Well, he could not have it._

When she first arrived at the castle she spent several days without sleep. The Count retired each morning and only emerged again at nightfall, but she found that she could not rest for fear that he might come upon her the moment she closed her eyes. So, she stayed up for three whole days, clutching the wooden stake she’d secreted in her skirt pocket and praying fiercely for her Lord’s protection. Her Lord did not answer. But on the third day Dracula came to her room and stood in the doorway watching her with a look of bemused pity. 

“Agatha, you’re exhausted!” he’d exclaimed. “You need to sleep. What can I do to reassure you?”

She tightened her fingers around the stake and brandished it toward him, “Nothing you say could reassure me, Count Dracula. You’re a spawn of the Devil. Lies are your native tongue.”

Dracula actually chuckled at this and raised his brows at her.

“So dramatic!” he admonished under his breath. “Alright, nothing I say will reassure you. How about something I do? Hmm? What shall I do to make you feel safe here in your new home?”

Agatha sat up straighter in her bed and raised her chin in defiance, “You can let me go at once.”

Dracula shook his head and sauntered further into the room, coming over to the side of the bed and leaning in to her space. He walked right up to the tip of the stake and pressed forward, letting it dig into his chest a bit.

“Go ahead,” he murmured, capturing her in his bottomless, black gaze. “Try it. I won’t hurt you. I want to show you something.”

Agatha’s eyes flashed with doubt. He was giving her the chance? It had to be some kind of trick. But Agatha, ever confident and brave, wouldn’t let the moment pass. She grit her teeth, tightened her grip and plunged the stake forward.

The stake met nothing but thin air. Agatha whipped her head around, frantically searching the room. Dracula leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the room, his arms crossed casually over his chest and a smug grin on his lips. 

“H-how did you…?”

“Vampire, darling, remember?” he said condescendingly. “Agatha, I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to show you. I can do anything I want to you and you….you can’t stop me. But I haven’t! And I won’t. I don’t want to force my advances on you. I want you to come to me…I want you to beg me. And believe me, sweet Agatha. By the end of all this you will beg me.”

Agatha narrowed her gaze at him and scoffed, “Very reassuring, Count Dracula. Thank you.”

But…in the end she _had_ slept. She kept the stake tucked under her pillow but she was able to sleep. After all, his point made sense. He had not tried anything. Not a touch, not a kiss, nothing. If he was telling the truth, if he was truly waiting for her consent…then all she had to do was not give it.

In the beginning it had seemed like a simple battle between the two of them. But then…then the Count’s dinner guests began arriving. 

Most of the time Agatha could ignore her captor-husband’s proclivities because she did not see the evidence. Dracula left the castle to hunt in the early evening and would return back to “sup” with her before long. She never saw so much as a blood spatter on his perfectly tailored suits. But about once a week the Count’s creature, Renfield, would acquire a meal for his master to enjoy at home. And these were the true tests of Agatha’s fortitude. 

He forced her to sit and watch as he poured drinks and offered his victims seconds and thirds. She watched as they grew sleepy from wine and rich foods and the influence of her husband’s hypnotic stare, no doubt. Then, when they were silly and vulnerable, he struck. His eyes clouded red with blood lust and his fangs grew before her eyes. He always, always locked eyes with her before plunging down to savage the poor unfortunate’s neck. 

It was bloody and gruesome and appalling. Agatha watched him cradle them in his arms as he would a lover, cooing and shushing their pleas, tenderly stroking their hair. It turned her stomach and she said so…often. 

On her good days. 

On her bad days, like this one, she was almost catatonic. She missed her mama. She missed her research. She missed her God, who could not hear her in this place. On these days she simply sat and stared and time was nothing to her. Dracula preferred her feisty. 

“No, no, not this again, Agatha,” he whispered as he pressed in next to her on the window seat. “What’s the matter, my little nun?”

She curled her lip at him as she murmured, “Not a nun. Thanks to you…”

Dracula’s gaze lit up, “There she is! Now, who knows? You could be a nun yet. Oh, Agatha, just think of it. A vampire nun? Isn’t it delicious?”

She pulled away from him violently and moved to sit in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. She hadn’t met his gaze since he came down the stairs.

Dracula tilted his head and regarded her as she stared into the flames.

“No?” he asked in a mocking little voice. “Well…I’ve been thinking, Agatha. And I think it might help you to have something to look forward to on the horizon. It might help to bring you out of your sadness on days like today. A little…contest?”

Agatha didn’t bother looking up, but he could hear the hint of interest in her voice as she answered, “A contest?”

He latched onto that interest, standing up and coming forward to kneel on the hearth in front of her–a mockery of a man going down on one knee before his lover.

“Yes, a contest. And I think you’ll find the terms are very fair. Now, if after one year of… ‘marriage’…you don’t wish to stay here with me then I will release you and you may go on to your little convent. How does that sound?”

Agatha finally lifted her chin and met his eyes. He saw the flare of hope in them, quickly snuffed by suspicion. 

“What is the catch?” she asked, accusation in her tone.

“None!” Dracula put a hand to his chest as if she’d wounded him.

“Oh, spare me, Dracula! You’ve never let any of the others go. Why am I different?”

“Because, dear Agatha,” he murmured, taking her hands forcibly in his own, “I’ve learned something after all this time. It never worked with any of the other brides and I could never tell why. I chose all different types of girls, tried feeding them from my own veins first…took varying amounts of blood from them…it never worked. What I was missing was…consent. To have a true bride she must be a woman who chooses to join me in the darkness. Do you see?”

Agatha rolled her eyes at him, “You mean to tell me you’re a hundred year old vampire who is just learning that a successful marriage is based on two consenting parties and not one?”

Dracula shrugged and laughed, “I’m a slow learner.”

She sat back and looked down her nose at him, pulling her hands from his grip, “And yet here I am…against my will.”

Dracula smirked back at her, “But just for one year, darling. And…like I said…you’ll be begging me before the end.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well...bet you thought you'd seen the last of me. Sorry I haven't updated this in so long! This chapter is short, too! I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Agatha hated to admit it, but Dracula was right. As time passed she found that the dream of freedom waiting for her at year’s end did, indeed, lift her spirits. She still treated her “husband” with disdain and loathing, but she no longer spent days at a time in limp despondency. Instead, she decided to make use of this time by beginning her research. After all, she wished to serve the Lord by using her masterful mind to discover spiritual truths. Why should she delay until taking vows? Especially when she had such unique access to the foul enemy of God right under this roof!

“Count Dracula…” she began one evening over dinner. _Her_ dinner, of course. Dracula sat across from her at the grand dining table with an empty plate before him.

“My dear, we are husband and wife. You may call me Vlad...or darling...or _master_ …,” Dracula’s voice drifted into a seductive purr and Agatha rolled her eyes.

“ _Count Dracula_ ,” she repeated with more force, “how did you come to live here?”

Dracula’s soulless, black eyes reflected the light of the fireplace as he parted his lips in wolf’s grin.

“Why, I was born here, of course, Agatha. Just like you,” he answered with a little quirk of his lips as if it were a silly question.

Agatha’s eyes sharpened and her brows knit together in confusion, “Born? You mean to say that a vampire is born like a human man?”

Dracula didn't answer for a moment, he merely sat there, tracing the rim of his empty wine glass with one elegant finger and watching Agatha thoughtfully. He’d showered her in material gifts, given her every comfort, and still she remained cold to him. But _this_. There was a fire in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. He inhaled deeply through his nose and he could smell the curiosity, the yearning, the desire for knowledge. _Perhaps this...he could work with._

“Would you like to know about my history, sweet Agatha?” His voice was a deep drawl that filled the air of the room. “Would you like me to tell you about vampires? That you might serve your Church to fight against the...forces of darkness.”

He chuckled as he finished his sentence but Agatha was hooked. She stared at him now with feverish intensity and her cheeks flushed.

“Yes, Count,” she breathed. _Please_. Anything to make her feel like she had a purpose again.

Dracula let her hang on the moment, tilting his head from side to side with a frown as if he was considering whether or not to grant her request.

“Very well,” he finally decided. “I’ll give you your answer, little wife. And in exchange I’ll ask you for just a small favor. Something very simple…”

Agatha flinched back at his words and it was on the tip of her tongue to deny him. _But…_

But, how she longed to learn about his nature! In her heart of hearts she recognized this impulse for what it was: _pride_. She wished to be the most learned, the most knowledgeable investigator into Satan’s powers on earth. And if this was to be the only way…

“What would you have of me?” Agatha asked, her voice like cut crystal--sharp yet fragile.

The Count smirked and gave her a falsely comforting look as he explained, “Nothing so terrible, dear. Only this: _call me Vlad_. From now on you will call me by my given name. And in exchange I will tell you how I was born to this world.”

Agatha felt like a fly caught in a spider’s web. Worse--all this time she’d thought she was outwitting the spider, waiting him out until the year closed in order to escape him. But now she saw what a masterful predator this spider was. Because despite her every instinct, despite the voice in her head crying to her not to make deals with the Devil’s agents, she could hear herself saying the words that would seal the bargain.

“Fine,” she snapped, and then, haltingly, “...Vlad.”

The wide smile that spread over the Count’s lips scared her more than anything had so far. She felt as though she’d just signed her name in the Devil’s ledger, taken the first step down the path to sin. _Save me, my Lord_ , she silently begged.

“You’ve made me very happy, Agatha,” he murmured, holding her in the deadly tunnel of his gaze for a moment before finally releasing her with a clap of his hands, “Well, it’s very simple, darling. I was born just as you were. To human parents. I grew up here, in this castle, with every expectation of living my life as a warrior lord. I would fight, kill, conquer, and then return home to wed and make an heir. That was the _plan_ , anyway.”

Agatha shook her head slowly, forgetting to address him with her customary disdain as she questioned, “But--I don’t understand. You mean to say that you were born a human man?”

Dracula gave a haughty laugh as he answered, “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

“But then...what happened to make you this way? Did you sell your soul to the Devil?”

Dracula shook his finger, “So many questions in that fascinating head of yours, Agatha. And I’ll answer them all if you’re willing to pay the price...but that’s enough for tonight I think, my love.”

Agatha sat back in her chair, trembling a little with the implications of his words. He would allow her research, cooperate with her questioning. But only for a price. What price would the Devil ask of her?

“It’s getting late,” he murmured, standing up and coming round the table to her side. He offered her his hand and Agatha stared at it for a long moment, waging an internal battle between her intellect, her fear and her faith. Dracula watched her torn emotions play out on her face as he waited. 

“So it is,” she answered, placing her smaller hand in his and allowing him to assist her from her seat. “...Vlad.”


End file.
